New Hospital

So here we are a month and a half into our trip-hard to believe how fast our time has gone! Since our last post we spent 3 AMAZING days on safari in the Serengeti and the Ngorongoro crater-It was like being on the set of The Lion King! We also been spending time in Paradiso orphanage here in Arusha, what gorgeous little kids-wish we could take them all home with us!

Upon finishing our first month of work in Meru District hospital, we have since finished two weeks working in the larger Mount Meru Regional hospital. This hospital is better equipped and the physio department there is more established, with around 5 physios employed there. We spend our days working between out-patients and the wards so have come across an even greater range of patients and conditions. We even had the chance to spend a day in the labour ward (EEEEKKK!!!) and watching orthopaedic surgery-not for the faint hearted (Alison!!).

We're also keeping ourselves busy doing a research project with guidance from one of the physios here who trained in the UK. The high numbers of severe paediatric burns in the hospital sparked our interest to investigate the reasons behind this.

We heard through the grapevine that there was an Irish woman working in the hospital-you cant go anywhere!! ;) It turns out an Irish nun has established a fantastic mental health department in the hospital. Having been away for so long this "mammy" figure made us feel right at home.

From the donations we have received we have already bought a substantial amount of medical equipment (Enough plaster of paris for up to 30 fracture cases, sterile gauze, cotton wool, gloves, tape, alcohol gel, a medical emergency pack etc.) which we have donated to Meru District. We are looking into buying a pulse oximeter for the Regional hospital (as they currently have none on the wards) as well as other medical and physio equipment.

We are SO SO appreciative to everyone who has already donated money and hope you can see that is all going to good use.
Just want to make a final MASSIVE plea to anyone who still wants to donate to please do this as soon as possible. We are coming into our final weeks so we need to buy the equipment in the coming days.

Again thank you so so much to everyone, looking forward to seeing you all soon.

Bla and Ali


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